Word to the Wise
Saturday, August 15, 2020 - Aug. 15: The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary: Day
[Rev 11:19a; 12:1-6a; 10ab; 1 Cor 15:20-27; Luke 1:39-56]"Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled." And Mary said, "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed;: the Almighty has done great things for me and holy is his Name." [Luke]
The words of the Magnificat from the Gospel According to Luke really sum up the foundation of the dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Her "assumption into heaven" is truly one of the "great things" God did for her. It does not first and foremost speak to a physical place that she went to at her death but to her relationship with God. It is that relationship that determined her identity at death. She shared in the same status as Jesus' risen body. What we must wait for until the end of time, she attained immediately. [cf. 1 Cor.15:35-58]
The church spent a LONG time considering and reflecting on this truth. The dogma was not officially "defined" until 1950 by Pope Pius XII (in my very own lifetime!). Marian theology, in general, was slow to develop in the church and it was not until the third or fourth century AD that theological reflection on Mary's special role became prominent, even with what we know of her from the Gospel According to Luke. After universal investigation, Pope Pius XII determined that Mary's assumption had been believed semper et ubique ab omnibus. (always and everywhere by everyone).
A simple and fundamental "faith-fact" is at the root of this. Mary's privilege flowed from her relationship to her Son. In that relationship, she becomes both model for us and mother to us. AMEN